41-year-old ape holds her new baby. "hot shots" a picture is worth a that you words. i'm wolf blitzer. join us weekdays from 5 to 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn and at this time every weekend on cnn international. the news continues next on cnn. right now on cnn, the president speaks only to us about his nauts on the controversial mosque near ground zero. a cnn exclusive. pictures of the president and his daughter taking a dip in the gulf of mexico, even as some still worry. water might not be safe. and what would you say if you could say anything you wanted to about race and the dreaded "n" word. here's your chance and mine to do it. the most honest conversation on this subject so far is about to happen right now. all thanks to dr. laura. hello, i'm don lemon.

clean, safe and opened for business. that's what president obama is saying about the beaches on the gulf coast after months of oil leaking into the water. and to prove it, he's there right now with the first lady and his daughter, sacha, on a short vacation. and in an exclusive interview with cnn, the president explains why he supports the rights of muslim to built a mosque and a community center near ground zero. ed henry is in panama city beach, florida. ed you got the one-on-one with the president. tell us about it. >> that's right. we caught up with him and the message the president is trying to send is about the gulf coast and that's why he's here. he was at a coast guard station getting briefingtion. he said they marked a major milestone by stopping the oil throw but it's not over yet and the administration will stay on top of it. one thing locals are wondering if he was going to get in the water and i asked him and he said likely to go swimming but not without his shirt on.

he swam late this afternoon with his daughter. he was underwater. you can only see him from the shoulders off. but a much more substantive issue to discuss with him moving forward about this mosque situation. the president last night in a white house ceremony, suggesting that he supports all of this because of the principle of religious freedom. when i caught up with him he tried to clarify those remarks because of this huge, huge, controversy. >> you get in the water today or tomorrow? >> i think we'll go tomorrow. >> and as i said, ed, i'm not going to let you guys take a picture of me without my shirt on but there will be proof, because you guy also tease me just like the last time -- i was on the front page of -- people commenting. >> that's good. >> what do you think about the reaction to your speech about the mosque? what about the reaction to your speech? >> well, my intention was to simply let people know what i

thought. which was that in this country we treat everybody equally. in accordance with the law. regardless of race, regardless of religion. i was not commenting and i will not comment on the wisdom making a decision, to put a mosque there. i was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. that's what our country is about and i think it's very important that as difficult as some of these issues are, we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about. >> that was the key right there. the president trying to say he was not speaking directly about the wisdom of whether or not the mosque should be built, but just standing up for the principle of religious freedom, not satisfying many republicans who have been speaking out like congressman peter king who said. president's original comments were insensitive. i spoke today to charlie crist,

the state's governor who was elected at republican and running for senate as independent and he said he agrees with the president. while the situation in new york is not perfect you have to stand up for the principle of religious freedom. >> the president said, you said there was a distinction, not a clarification, about the mosque near ground zero but i hear the white house is offering more of a distinction about that proposed months snk. >> it's almost a clarification of the clarification, in a way, because of the president's comments to cnn, it sparked a lot of media speculation that perhaps the president was backing off what he said last night. and white house spokesman said -- to be clear the president is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night. it is not his role as president so pass judgment on every local project but it is his responsibility to stand unfor the constitutional principle of religious freedom and equal treatment for all americans. so even as the president is trying to give the broader

context here as he did to cnn and we've been trying to put it in that full context, there's been so much controversy kicked up in new york about this very emotional that now the white house is having to clarify the clarification. >> clarify the clarification. not just in new york all around the country. but the heart of it is really in new york. ed henry joining us from the gulf of mexico down there with the president. we appreciate it. politically, it's risky for the president to weigh in on the mosque controversy because it's become such an explosive issue. republicans like newt gingrich, house minority leader john boehner and congressman peter king waste nod time ripping into the president after the comments. but michael bloomberg and former governor charlie crist, are backing the president's stance. in the court of public opinion, reaction is, well, mixed. >> i'm glad he interjected because the muslims have the right to prayer. it's ramadan.

we have synagogues and churches everywhere. i'm proud of him. >> plenty of realty all over manhattan. it shouldn't be here. this really is sacred, i just came from ground zero, two blocks away. it's heartbreaking and then to just walk here i can just spit on the ground. >> stay tuned for more on this controversy starting in new york. police in buffalo, new york, have charged 25-year-old keith johnson with four counts of murder after an early-morning shooting left four people dead. another four people were wounded in the early hours of saturday morning outside a downtown buffalo restaurant. details are murky but it's believed that a fight broke out immediately before the shooting inside the restaurant. among the dead, two men and two women. one of the victims was celebrating a man he was celebrating his wedding anniversary. pakistan's prime minister says 20 million people have been affected by catastrophic floods.

we spent pakistan's independence day handing out aid to the victims of the flooding. celebrations for the holiday were cancelled and the government said money saved would be donated to flood recovery efforts. one-fifth of pakistan, an area the size of florida, has flooded in the past two days. >> from the black panthers to shirley sherrod to the tea party, race has been a big issue this summer. now radio host dr. laura burst into discussion using the "n" word repeatedly on radio. everybody has been talking about it and then i'll play her remarks and we'll have a conversation of our own here, a candid and opened conversation. is it ever okay? that's what we're asking -- to use the "n" word and what that the worst of what she said? we want to hear from you. sends your comments about this topic or any of the stories we're covering. and check out my blog and look for us on foursquare. check in. eant make a terrible therapist?

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get ready to weigh in and talk back to the television. is it ever okay, ever, to use the "n" word? dr. lauw shh less injer. she talked with a caller who is black and her husband is white. called her for advice. >> >> caller: i was surprised by the "n" word that you spewed out. but my point is -- >> then i guess you don't watch hbo or listen to black

comedians. >> caller: but that doesn't make it right. >> i think you have too much sensitivity and not much sense of a humor. >> caller: is it okay to say that word? is it ever okay? >> it depends how it's said. black guys talking to each other seem to think it's okay. >> but they're not black. >> caller: my husband is white. >> so a word is restricted to race? got it. can't do much about that. >> caller: i can't believe someone like you on the radio is spewing out the [bleep] word. i said, that's what you hear -- >> caller: everybody heard it i hope they did. >> they did and i'll say it again, [bleep] [bleep] is what you hear on hbo. why don't you let me finish a sentence. don't take things out of context. don't naacp me. >> so. let's talk. dr. laura, she issued an apology and the next day acknowledging she was wrong and she said i'm

wrong, i shouldn't have used -- i articulated the n word all the way out and i shouldn't have done that. i'll bring in our panel. jill merit thanks for joining us. john riddly and tim wise, the author of "color blind." thanks for joining me. some people are saying, do we have to talk about this? yeah, i think we need to talk about it. but we should talk about it more. obvious lynn it's an issue. tim starting with you, your initial reaction to dr. laura? >> well, i mean, my initial reaction is that unfortunately, the kind of things that she was saying to this caller, not the "n" word per se but the rest of her response in which she basically dismissed this woman's concerns about racism in her own life. it's all too common. that's the view of millions of white americans who whenever people of color bring up the issue of racism in their lives we want to say you're hypersensitive. you're seeing things.

you have a chip on your shoulder and i really think and i hope we understand this kind of dismissiveness for the racism t word is because it says you people are so unintelligent you can't be trusted to interpret your life so let me and my whiteness interpret your reality for you. that's fundamentally racist even if the "n" word hadn't been used. >> jill? >> hi. at first glance, i was upset. i was angered. there was outrage. but i have to say, after looking deeper into the issue, for me, i've just decided that there's a bigger problem here at hand. what's going on with the "n" word we've been working over the last four years. speaking about the "n" word, abolishing the "n" word but there's something else that's pushing through. we need to talk about this and

that's why it keeps coming up. we need to sit at the table and discuss racism. there is racism in america and we need to stop trying to sweep it under the rug and act like it doesn't exist. >> john? >> you know, look, when i heard it, i have to be honest, i wasn't surprised. this is dr. laura, consider the source. she's prove herself homophobic, anti-feminist so i wasn't surprised but i agree, i think there are bigger issues. the word itself were something like a speed bump. she said things in rer rant like "black think" she said things like if you can't deal with these problems in a interracial married you shouldn't get married outside of your race so i think what she's talking about is much larger. we tend to get caught up on the word but i agree. there's a conversation to be had and i don't think, unfortunately it's much of a conversation that can really be had in america. >> i think it is a lightning rod

and i wonder if it is a diversion, sometimes, from looking at the real issue as jill said. john, you say that using this word is like gay people using the word queer or other words. you think that those two terms are equal and have basically, the same emotional power? >> well, i think it can be. the thing about the "n" word is, yes, it has a very unfortunate history. but the reality is if we try to take it off the table the only people using it are bigots and knuckleheads like dr. laura. so we need to remove the sting from that word. to try to abolish it -- >> but here's the thing and i hate to interrupt you, in this country we have freedom of speech and dr. laura has freedom of speech and she can say whatever she wants but we don't want to go back to banning words and banning books and all that so do we really want to abolish

the "n" word? that's what rappers say. they take the word back to take some of the sting out of it but there are people who are also bothered by rappers using it as well, tim. >> right. well i think whether or not black folks use the word, that's a debate for black folks to have. i don't think anyone that isn't black ought to be in on that. i'll give you an analogy. i'm from the south and i don't like the word "red neck" because i know it's a slur. but when jeff fox worthy does 20 minutes of red neck jokes it doesn't offend me because fox worthy is in that family. like i can talk about my mama but you had better not talk about my mama. that's something we need to understand it. if white folks don't like it why can't i use the word? history is a double standard, deal with that first and then we'll deal with the rest. >> remember "all in the family"

and they would say things like "honky." and something you eat. george jefferson would say it all the time and archie bunker said it all the time and no one flinched. i'm sorry, jill, i cut you off. >> you know, i just want to say that the "n" word is not a word that black people own. it's not a word that we should own and it's not a word we should try to own. i believe deeply that the "n" word is a racist word and it belongs in the same category as every other racial epithet, to make it a term of endearment to take the sting out of it. to just play with it in the way that some of us have, it really is -- it's dangerous. it's a word that's racist and it belongs to the races if they want to say it that's fine. >> we have to go to break we'll come back and talk about this. i wonder by sitting here and having this conversation if we're giving too much power to

the word, even more power than we should be giving it in the year 2010. i wonder if it's become a distraction? i'll move on past the "n" word unless you have another comment on the other side of the break we'll talk more about what's really going on here? what's at the bottom of this and we'll take your comments. back in a moment. we'll handle this, really, really tough topic. our conversation, again, after the break. my nasal allergies are ruining our camping trip. i know who works differently than many other allergy medications. hoo? omnaris. [ men ] omnaris -- to the nose! [ man ] did you know nasal symptoms like congestion

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back with our conversation now. we're talking the john riddly, tim wise and jill merit to talk about dr. law's use of the "n" word. here's my thing. in my personal life i do this, i talk to you guys this as a journalist because it's part of the national conversation. i don't care what someone calls me. if someone calls me that it's really more of a reflection on them if they call me the "n" word. someone upon twitter agree. someone says, i'm a black person and i don't care what a white person calls me. it is recrimination and violence that matters. tim, what do you think about that? have i gone too far and people like the folks on twitter have gone too far by saying, i don't care what you call me. i don't care? >> the fact that people don't let it bother them or say they don't is one thing. that doesn't mean we ought to have license to use it as an act of verbal license. i think the biggest thing that

was the problem, the most problematic thing she said there was a part where the caller said a lot of time my husband and friend say things like, what do black people this think? is this what black people think? that may not sound racist but when black and brown folks in the country feel like they have to constantly represent for the group and constantly under the microscope that that has a physiological emotional effect on people that's greater than the use of the word. the word is so blatant everyone can process that. you can see what it is right away. the subtle stuff is for destructive according to health research and i wish we would deal with that because that's the worse thing that dr. laura did. >> that was what i was going to say. i used to call it the african-american authority when people would ask me about african-american or about black issues you feel like your the african-american authority. so where do we go from here, john? >> take it to the meeting. we'll go to the meeting and we'll find out when we answer the questions.

>> where do we go from here? >> you know, i had difficult because as you say we all want to have discussions about race and get beyond it but the problem is the people that need to have the diswas, whether they are white, black, hispanic or asian they tend to self-segregate. people like you and the panel can have an intellectual discussion but we go back to integrated groups and we have a discussion about kids, lawn care or cars and schools and we talk as people and find out we're really not that different and generally have the same concerns. maybe we don't approach them the same way but we're folks. it would be great to have a conversation about race but as i said earlier the people who need it can't and won't have it. the people who should have it have different conversations that, quite frankly, are better conversations. >> and jill we're out of time. we have a short broadcast tonight because we have a special on at 7:30. thank you guys. i really appreciate you coming on. >> thank you, don, appreciate

it. one of r&b's star giving kids a new look on life. >> my teachers that were favorite teachers turned me in. >> how did usher help get this student and many others back on track. that story is next. and it's been nearly five years since hurricane katrina devastated new orleans. three cnn heroes determined to bring the city back. hey, it's great to see you're back after that accident. well...i couldn't have gotten by without aflac! is that different from health insurance? well yeah... ...aflac pays you cash to help with the bills that health insurance doesn't cover. really? well, if you're hurt and can't work, who's going to help pay for gas? ..the mortgage, all kinds of expenses? aflacccccccccc! it's the protection you need to stay ahead of the game... exactly!

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at meineke i have options, and 50% off brake pads and shoes. my money. my choice. my meineke. you may know usher as a r&p sensation but he does a lot more than sing and dance. he's a mentor to kids all around the country. our education contributor, steve perry has more in tonight's edition of "perry's principles." a couple years ago, james harris was a troubled teen with little direction in life. caught with -- with weed at school. my two teachers, my favorite teachers turned me in and i felt betrayed. >> but those teachers steered him towards the new look foundation, a nonprofit by usher. kids learn skills and get hands-on training to help them develop leadership skills in

their business and their communities. >> how do you get the kids hooked in? >> it's ultimately about introducing them to real-world experiences. >> we want the train the youth how to take an issue and for them to lead the change. for them to train their pierce and for them to g their friends and families involved. >> you seem to have found a strategy to meet children where they are, and get them to do good things for themselves, and others. >> that's right. >> where did that come from? >> i think ultimately it started with usher. he said we want to work with youth. we want to do these things but more importantly, he said we need to listen to them. we don't do that enough in society. we don't ask kid what is it that you want? we don't give them a voice. >> a lot of the kids we've chosen to motivate come from impoverished homes and broken areas and we can't even begin to deal with all those issues but what we can do is plant a seed to allow those children to see the light. >> steve perry, atlanta.

>> steve, thanks very much. up next, it was 2005, when hurricane katrina destroyed much of new orleans. five years later, three extraordinary cnn heroes are determined to bring it back. anderson cooper tells their inspiring story coming up from katrina. >> so, ah, your seat good? got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok?

just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru.